LONDON 2012 Olympic organisers have apologised to the public after admitting that 1.2 million applicants had failed to secure tickets in the first public ballot.

Two-thirds of the 1.9 million people who applied for tickets failed to receive a single seat, prompting the organisers to apologise.

The latest figures of those who missed out are higher than previously suggested and mean that only 36pc of applicants (700,000) received any tickets.

The organisers also said that 1.3 million people had applied for the 30,000 tickets that they revealed were available for the 100m final, the marquee event in the Olympic Stadium.

Of the 61,000 tickets total, half had been allocated to the public. Early estimates had suggested that just 250,000 people might have been unlucky.

Paul Deighton, the chief executive of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog), apologised and admitted that fewer tickets had been available than initially announced.

Originally, Locog had said the public could apply for 6.6 million tickets. In fact, just 5.3 million were up for grabs in the first round -- a further 1.3 million were kept aside in case dignitaries, the media or bulky television cameras took up more seats than expected.

Of the 5.3 million available, just 3 million tickets have been allocated to the 700,000 successful applicants. No-one applied for the rest.

Locog chairman Lord Coe said: "We are absolutely determined to get these available tickets to people who missed out. Our commitment is absolutely clear, we want two-thirds of the 1.9 million ticket applicants to get a ticket to the 2012 Games if they want."

Consumer groups said that the system had been "rigged" to fill stadiums, rather than give sports fans and taxpayers a chance to enjoy the games.

Those who were not allocated any seats, including Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist Bradley Wiggins, will have the right to buy unsold tickets from the first round from next Friday, on a first-come, first-served basis.